Perceptions of Practice: What Art Student Teachers Say They Learn and Need to Know

Abstract

The student teaching experience is an important component in the professional development of art teachers. Yet, other than anecdotal accounts, little is known about patterns of successes and difficulties encountered by art student teachers. What challenges do they face? How do they put their art understandings into practice? What do they believe they learn and need to learn in order to become an art teacher? To examine these issues, art student teachers (N = 37) wrote guided reflective statements seven times over the course of their field placement. They described their successes, the challenges they faced, what they learned, and what they thought they needed to know to become a teacher. Art content references and concerns were pervasive and consistent across all writing tasks and data collection sections. Although the student teachers were challenged by the technical aspects of art instruction including classroom management and pedagogical strategies, subject matter was also a primary consideration. These results raise questions about the ways student art teachers make use of their art knowledge in teaching and how teacher educators can better assist novices to balance the technical demands of teaching with content needs.